Feb. 23, 2006

Final Stats |  Quotes

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.-Junior James Smith (Nyack, N.Y.) tallied 23 points on 8-for-11 shooting from the floor to power the Marist men's basketball squad to an 89-71 victory over Niagara Thursday evening at the James J. McCann Center. The Red Foxes improved to 17-9 overall and 11-6 MAAC, while the Purple Eagles fell to 10-16 overall and 7-10 MAAC. The game was also Senior Night for Carl Hood (Houston, Tx.) and James Sutton (Huntington, Tx.).

Junior Will Whittington (Kingwood, Tx.) also tallied 16 points, while junior Miles Orman had a career-high 13 points. Junior Jared Jordan (Hartford, Conn.) also posted his eighth double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 assists. The 6'2 guard entered the week leading the nation in assists with 8.7.

Jordan and sophomore Shae McNamara led the Red Foxes with six boards apiece. Niagara was led by Lorenzo Miles' 19 points and four steals. James Mathis also tallied 15 points, while Clif Brown had 13 points and seven rebounds. J.R. Duffey also had seven boards to go with 13 points.

Brown and Miles went a collective 11-for-34 from the field. Brown missed six of his seven 3-point attempts on the evening.

The Red Foxes pounded the Purple Eagles on the bench, scoring 48 points to Niagara's 18 and also won the rebounding battle 37-30.

After jumping out to an 8-2 lead in the game's first three minutes, Niagara surrendered a 27-6 run over the next 11 minutes and soon found itself down 29-14 on a 3-pointer by Whittington.

From the beginning of the second half, the game was never in doubt as the Red Foxes took their largest lead at 26 (80-54) with 6:35 to play on a 3-pointer by Jordan with the shot clock running down.

The Red Foxes will close out their regular season on Saturday as they head to Fairfield for a 9 p.m. tip.